[pct-l] what did you have for dinner?

[Jeffrey Olson]

My favorite dinners are a compilation of cheap, healthy components.
There are four basic levels.

The first level is the base; pasta, instant rice, cous cous, polenta
(grits) or potato flakes, my favorite.  4 oz for the first couple weeks,
6 oz for the rest of the hike.

The second level is a dehydrated soup; split pea, black bean (with extra
salt) or my favorite, curried lentil.  2 oz for the first couple weeks,
and 3-4 oz for the rest of the hike.

The third level is the "binder."  I never knew about binders until I got
disgusted with prepackaged freeze dried food - mostly price.  The binder
is the ingredient that ties everything else together.  Rice and black
bean soup mix gets old real fast.

The binder I favor is parmesian cheese - Kraft or some other generic
version. The stuff lasts forever and has good fat content.  For the
first two weeks - 2oz, and 3-4 oz for the rest of the hike.  You can
carry oil or margarine, fake and tubbed, but I've found that good old
Kraft Parmesian makes me smack my lips as I wolf down dinner.  I usually
include an ounce of 4% dehydrated milk as another binder.

The fourth level is where you get creative, and can use the dehydrator.
Anything goes.  An oddity I like is to include dehydrated blueberries,
an ounce or two, in a dinner once in a while.  Vegetables, etc.
Whatever the imagination can concoct.  If you use potato flakes, include
fake margarine and about three ounces per person of soy baco bits.
That's a lot of baco bits, believe me...  They are salty and absolutely
wonderful.  Potato flakes makes the greatest volume per weight, but
there are some issues with the hypoglycemic spike some people might have
to consider.

I package dinners at home in the same manner.  Use a quart freezer bag
to put the rice/pasta/cous cous in.  Then put the soup and cheese in a pint
sandwich, not freezer bag. Secure with a small strip of duct
tape or newspaper rubber band.

I know all these bags sounds wasteful and lots of extra weight, but
being able to get the water to boil, pour it into the quart bag with
all the ingredients turn off the stove, or some favorite order - makes
controlling the process easier.  And you can go stoveless - just mix
them all while you hike and let them rehydrate.

You can vary your dinners so you don't have the same dinner but twice a
month.  I found I preferred more curried lentil dinners and fewer black
beans.  I really liked potato dinners once a week.  They make a LOT of
food for the weight, and taste so, so, good with the margarine and baco
bits. I'm a little suspect about the potato dinner's nutrition, hence
they are a treat - once a week.

This stuff is all bought in bulk.  The idea of shopping as you go has
its fans, but I don't like leaving the trail, and I know what I will eat
on the trail.  Mac and cheese it ain't...  My package disappeared from
the Big Lake Religious camp and I had to hitch into Sisters for a
resupply at the store at the edge of town.  $50 for five days.  I
figured that I was spending about $4 a day if I ate nothing but bulk
food.  My folks live in the bay area and shipping the food was not that
expensive.  I so appreciated my next food drop at Timberline Lodge...
The store bought stuff just wasn't the same.  Where were the baggies?

When I added the mealpack bars, or power bars, or any of the "someone
else does the work" foods, the cost easily doubled.  That said, I'm a
convert to the 4oz bars you can buy for $1.30 or so with shipping -
http://mealpack.com/.  You get 440 calories for not much more than a
buck!!!  You have to buy a minimum of 50 bars, but that's not a big deal.

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD